


Through Sorority and Sobriety

by chronicAngel



Series: Through All Things [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bachelorette Party, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 07:27:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18545071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chronicAngel/pseuds/chronicAngel
Summary: She doesn't know how long it's been when she cracks her eyes open and sees Dave, and for a moment she panics becauseshe's still in her wedding dress and he's gonna see her and everything is gonna be ruinedbut she looks down at herself to find that her bridesmaids have taken care of her. Her wedding dress is nowhere to be seen (likely taken back to Rose and Kanaya's apartment where it won't be forgotten tomorrow) and she's in one of Dave's shirts and some pajama pants.





	Through Sorority and Sobriety

Jade does not know she's having a bachelorette party until a week before her wedding, and she feels a little bit overwhelmed because she had been planning to go out to lunch with Dave and John to celebrate the latter's birthday and then lounge around the apartment with Dave and Bec for the rest of the day and suddenly the second she gets home from lunch she's on the phone with Rose and Kanaya planning a bachelorette party that she hadn't been planning to have (it feels like a stupid tradition-- she and Dave have already been practically married since they were 18, so she hardly feels like a bachelorette).

By the time it is the night before her wedding, she does, at the very least, have a pretty firm idea of what's going on.

She makes sure to kiss Dave for at least ten minutes before he leaves with John, Karkat, and Terezi to go to a bar at five thirty (which _feels_ a little early and also generally like a bad idea) and ties his bowtie for him even though she's sure it will come off before he gets home tonight. She looks Karkat in the eye and tells him very firmly that Dave's curfew is midnight and if he's not back by then she'll find something to sue him for and hire Terezi to help her do it, and that earns a gulp and a "Yes ma'am" from him.

Kanaya, Nepeta, and Rose all arrive at six (she's astonished that they're all there on time-- Nepeta is always a little bit late and Kanaya is either half an hour early to everything or two hours late). Kanaya has the clothing bag that her wedding dress is in draped carefully over her arm and Rose has a bottle of sparkling apple cider (Jade doesn't drink, alcoholism runs in Dave and Rose's family so it's just too much of a risk for her, Kanaya doesn't drink if Rose is there because she feels bad, and Nepeta can't just drink alone).

Nepeta, who was not actually asked to bring anything, has a bag of... something, and Jade is a little bit afraid to see what's in it because Nepeta has always had a little bit of trouble with social norms and it's a coin toss if it's something mundane or an entire bag full of expensive condoms that Jade will feel too horrified to ever use (and that Dave will find absolutely hilarious). "I know that you didn't ask me to bring anything," she says, curling her r's in the way that Jade has always found weird because Karkat and Kankri don't do that (and she supposes Meulin doesn't either but she's also deaf and rarely talks so she's not sure she counts). "But I felt bad being the only one who didn't so I brought you these."

The use of "these" has Jade nervous again because _God, what if it really is a bag just filled with condoms_. But when she removes the tissue paper inside (likely more decorative than anything as Rose and Kanaya's building is within walking distance and Jade knows from experience it's really not that bumpy a road between them), she finds a box set of every episode of the Squiddles cartoon. She's taken aback, blinking at it before grinning at her bridesmaids. "You know what we have to do now, right?"

"Aw, no, Jade, come on," Rose already starts while Kanaya looks confused and Nepeta is already grinning back at her. "We had a _game plan_ for tonight which _did not involve binge-watching the Squiddles cartoon._ "

Jade beams at her and holds it out so it's only a few inches away from her face. "Rooose. You know you wanna see what Inkton is up to. You only wore that shirt practically every day when you were thirteen."

Rose crinkles her nose in disgust before she just sort of... deflates. Kanaya looks between the two of them and then at the box set. "So... I am confused. Are we staying here instead of going out to dinner to watch this... children's cartoon?" None of them answer aloud. Instead, Jade grabs one of her arms and Nepeta grabs the other and they haul her toward Dave and Jade's bedroom while Rose trudges behind them looking defeated. (Internally, she does mourn their plans to go out to dinner a little bit. She's been craving steak for two weeks and knows how much of a bother it is when people make reservations and then don't show up.)

Two hours later they're eleven and a half episodes in and Kanaya looks wildly confused. "Wait. So. Skipper Plumbthroat is the villain, correct?" She and Nepeta both nod. Rose has been sucked into the show with her full attention and Jade tries not to feel smug about it. (She fails. Oh she fails miserably.) "But then... he is just a fisherman, right? He's not trying to catch the squiddles for malicious purposes. He's just trying to feed his family. I don't see what is so wrong with that." This is a point Rose made to Jade years ago and as it turns out she's just as receptive to it in her 20s as she was then-- which is to say, not at all.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that, but the squiddles are sentient beings!"

"But how should he know that? They seem the same to him as any other squid. You don't feel bad every time you eat sushi because fish might have feelings."

"Fish don't have feelings." Nepeta immediately dismisses, but there's a horror in her eyes so Kanaya and Jade exchange a look and silently agree to drop the conversation before they scar her permanently from eating fish. She's already picky enough for her age, they don't need to ward her off from anything else. "Anyway, why doesn't Skipper Plumbthroat try to feed his family something else? Fishing is hard! He could try gardening or raising livestock and it would go much better for him."

This leads Jade to pout. "Gardening is hard, too, you know. There's a reason Dave and I aren't eating fresh tomatoes with lunch every day. Okay, well, there's a reason beyond just the fact that our apartment building doesn't have any sort of gardening space for its residents and tomatoes don't like to grow in hanging pots the same way most flowers will."

The conversation goes pretty similarly for the next long while until Jade gets up to wash out wine glasses-- just because they're not drinking alcohol doesn't mean they can't drink fancy. She comes back just in time to see Skipper Plumbthroat's crewmate fall into the ocean and in a horrifying, blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene she thinks she sees a squiddle drag the man under by his head before it jumpcuts to Skipper's net being cut open and the wave of tangle buddies inside being released.

They pause the show after that episode ends to pour their glasses and talk. "So... did I just see a squiddle murder Adam Kikkert?" Kanaya asks, plainly startled, and honestly, Jade is just relieved she's not the only person who caught that. "That squiddle definitely grabbed him by the head and pulled him under the water, right? Somebody else has to have seen that."

"I've been telling Jade for years the show is filled with stuff like that but she's always said I'm crazy," Rose says, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, okay, I saw it too. Let's talk about something other than squiddles you party poopers," she says, blowing a raspberry for effect. "I'm getting married _tomorrow._ Do you know how crazy that feels?" The girls around her all hum and shake their heads. "I guess on a level it's like... I've basically felt married to Dave as long as we've been together. It's so weird it's actually happening."

Rose snorts. "You think you two have felt like you were married? _We've_ felt like you were married as long as you've been together," she scoffs, gesturing between Kanaya and herself (nevermind the fact that Dave and Jade have been together longer than Rose and Kanaya have). "He talked to us for months about how he should propose. It was about as adorable as it was obnoxious."

"I, for one, was happy to be included in the ring shopping," Kanaya interjects, and this is a story Jade hasn't heard so she leans in, staring at Kanaya with wide eyes. "Oh, right. I suppose he hasn't talked about it. He dragged John, Karkat, and myself to about five different ring stores insisting that none of the ones we had looked at felt like you. I think that John was having a mixed 'annoyed best friend forced to go ring shopping against his will' and 'proud older brother who wants to find the perfect ring for his little sister' moment. Karkat thought it was very romantic."

She holds her breath for a moment and then raises a brow. "And what'd you think?"

"I thought that he was being utterly ridiculous. Finally, when we were in the fifth store, I told him that you wouldn't care what the ring looked like as long as he was the one offering it to you." Jade feels her chest fill with warmth and a soft smile crack her face as she looks at Kanaya. "Of course, he still insisted that it had to be perfect because no one can talk any sense into that boy. He just kept muttering about how diamonds were overdone and you were more unique than that. Eventually Karkat, ever the hopeless romantic, found a ring that he insisted was perfect."

Jade stares down at her ring and thinks, _It is perfect._ It's amethyst set in gold, to suit the purple and gold color scheme they settled on for their wedding (which is _tomorrow_ ). It reminds her of the wildflowers that grow in the park where they had their first date every spring-- the same park he proposed to her in. She wonders if Dave even noticed it. She's positive Karkat didn't know. "So Karkat's the one that picked it."

"That sounds like him," Nepeta yawns, although there are stars in her eyes. "When we were growing up he used to ask Dad why he picked the ring he proposed to Mom with. It was a big deal to him. I have no idea why. It's not like the engagement ring is even the one that you're going to wear forever..."

Which is a valid point. The one that she's going to be wearing forever is one that she and Dave picked out together, the same day that they set the date for their wedding and booked the venue and ordered the printed invitations (though everyone who was invited certainly knew who they were). A copy of one of their wedding invitations is currently framed on their shared dresser, and she glances over at it now. "I think it's sweet. The wedding ring is the one you choose together, but the engagement ring... it's chosen solely by the person who proposes. It shows how well they know the other person, and what their relationship makes them think of." The fact that Dave stressed over getting her a "unique" ring is almost enough to bring tears to her eyes.

"Alright, yes, we're all very sappy," Rose interjects. "But if you don't try on your wedding dress while we're all over I think Kanaya will kill me when we get home." Jade laughs and chugs the last of her glass of apple cider (her third one, not that she's keeping track or anything) and then scoots down the bed until her feet are touching the hardwood floor. (She thanks God that she's wearing socks. She doesn't know how many times she has to protest to Dave to get a rug before he'll actually listen.)

She changes into the dress in the bathroom and looks at herself in the mirror before she steps into the room with all of her bridesmaids. She wants to see herself before she hears all of the oohing and ahing.

Her breath catches in her throat. She had commissioned Kanaya and her mother back in January to make sure that they had time for the fitting and the design and everything but she has foolishly waited this long to try it on relying on the fact that she knows both of the seamstresses to make sure the design would look nice. Now, she feels like a drunk girl on a bus at ten o'clock at night for how much she wants to happy-cry looking at herself.

It's cream (not eggshell, which was something Karkat had been weirdly pushy about wanting to know before she told him that she hadn't actually seen it yet, at which point he had a conniption fit and refused to talk to her for two days) with a gold trim. It's just a few inches too long to be floor length, which means it will be floor length when she's wearing her three inch heels down the aisle.

She can only hope that the other three women won't notice that her eyes are indeed watering when she steps into the room, twirling in the doorway for all three of them to see. Rose actually has a hand over her mouth, and Nepeta is leaning so far forward that Jade is a little bit afraid that she'll topple face-first right off the bed. Kanaya, meanwhile, runs her eyes up and down Jade's figure as though double-checking that the dress fits perfectly and the design looks good. (Which, of course it does, there was never a doubt in Jade's mind that her wedding dress would be perfect.)

"My brother's going to die when he sees you walking down that aisle," Rose says eventually, sliding her hand down to her chest as though clutching her pearls. Jade laughs, breathy and wet, and lifts a hand to wipe at her eyes.

" _My_ brother's going to die when he sees you walking down that aisle," Nepeta adds. Jade laughs harder and walks forward until she's at the bed and then practically throws herself forward to hug the three of them.

"Well," Kanaya says after a moment, muffled as her face is buried in Jade's shoulder. "My brother certainly will not die."

For the next hour they all crack jokes about their respective brothers until Jade is dizzy and drunk on laughter and it's time for the girls to head out and she's basically passed out. It's only 10:30, but it's not as though Jade has ever been on any consistent sleep schedule anyway. (Bec, she notices, has snuck into the room to sit at the foot of the bed and stand guard for her while she sleeps, which means it is probably a narcolepsy thing and she decides that she'll worry about it later.)

She doesn't know how long it's been when she cracks her eyes open and sees Dave, and for a moment she panics because _she's still in her wedding dress and he's gonna see her and everything is gonna be ruined_ but she looks down at herself to find that her bridesmaids have taken care of her. Her wedding dress is nowhere to be seen (likely taken back to Rose and Kanaya's apartment where it won't be forgotten tomorrow) and she's in one of Dave's shirts and some pajama pants.

"Hey beautiful," Dave whispers, climbing into bed with her, and she is too tired to notice that he's not drunk-- he's hardly even tipsy, really. She supposes he'll tell her about the bachelor party later. "How was your party?"

"It was good," she mumbles, wrapping an arm around him once he's settled into bed next to her and burying her face in his chest sleepily. Then, after a moment, she smiles and glances up at him through bleary eyes. "I can't wait to marry you."


End file.
